Recent SCOTUS decisions have consequences for pregnant victims of violence

The recent Supreme Court decisions on abortion access and firearm restrictions both have implications for people capable of pregnancy, according to a perspective published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

In their opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade and enabled states to ban or restrict access to abortion services.

“This is particularly important for people experiencing [intimate partner violence (IPV)] because pregnancy is an especially dangerous time for people experiencing IPV,” Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler, JD, MA, author of the perspective and an associate professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island, told Healio. “It’s associated with both the initiation of IPV and an increase in severity.”

“The reason that the Dobbs opinion is so important is that abortion access plays a really important role in reducing IPV,” Tobin-Tyler said. She added that it is particularly critical for historically marginalized groups such as non-Hispanic Black women, among whom the pregnancy-associated homicide rate is five times greater than that among white women.

In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court limited the restrictions states can place on carrying firearms in public.

“Essentially under this decision, states are no longer able to require that a person demonstrate a special need for defense in order to carry a firearm in public,” Tobin-Tyler said. “We know that there are higher rates of higher morbidity and mortality in locations where there is more gun ownership and less restrictive gun laws. We also know that the majority of IPV-related homicides involve firearms.”

In this video interview, Tobin-Tyler explains how clinicians can assist their patients who are victims of IPV.

Reference:

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Reproductive & Maternal Health Resource Center